Strategic management: Porter's model of generic competitive strategies - theory and analysis

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: B (66%), University Of Wales Institute, Cardiff (Welsh School of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure), course: Strategic Management, 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: 'Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing environment and to fulfil stakeholder expectations' Johnson and Scholes (2002) p10 Strategy plays an important, if not the most important role in an organisation. Not only concerning competition, but regarding all aspects of the business. Competition has always been the greatest fear of every businessman. Trying to think ahead of the competitors is the only option a successful business owner has. Developing a strategy, adapting and improving it and ensuring that employees are aware of the business' mission are only a few criteria, which help to gain competitive advantage. Professor Michael Porter developed the so-called model of 'generic competitive strategies', which will be explained in the first part of this report. Later on the report will outline problems, which occur in Professor Porter's model. The second part of the report applies Porter's concept to a tourism organisation and analyses its relevance for the chosen business.